Jocelyn Brown, USDA FAS Office of Capacity Building and Development Deputy Administrator, and Avis Watts-Massenburg, Branch Chief, Trade and Scientific Exchanges Division, USDA FAS meet with ASA/WISHH Cochran Fellows in Washington, D.C.

The American Soybean Association (ASA) World Initiative for Soy in Human Health (WISHH) led a training this week on school meals and nutrition for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Cochran Fellows, who are in the country to learn and strengthen their trade relationships with the United States.

USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) contracted with WISHH to execute the training for the Fellows from seven African and four Central American countries. Multiple Fellows represent companies, government agencies or international school meal programs that use U.S. soy to help meet the protein and other nutritional needs of school children.

This week, ASA/WISHH conducted training in Washington, D.C. where Fellows heard from USDA program leaders as well as private-sector representatives, such as Corteva Agriscience. Delaware soybean grower David Marvel, a leader in the national farm-to-school movement, and former ASA Chairman Richard Wilkins assisted with training visits in Delaware.

The Fellows witnessed U.S. school meal and nutrition programs as well as on-farm sustainability efforts that contribute to the quality of U.S. soy. ASA/WISHH conducted training in how to prepare soy-based meals for school children. During the second week of their Fellowship, the participants travel to Indiana where they will join ASA/WISHH’s Affordable Protein Supply: Solving the Institutional Meals Puzzle Workshop. Workshop sponsors include the Indiana Soybean Association, DuPont Nutrition & Health, Insta-Pro International, U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance, and Zeeland Farm Services, Inc.